Topics :: Catholicism

Pope Francis urged bishops on Monday to speak their minds without fear about contentious issues like contraception, gays, marriage and divorce at the start of a two-week meeting aimed at making the church's teaching on family matters relevant.

The Vatican admitted Thursday that most Catholics around the world reject its teachings about sex and contraception as an intrusion into their private lives, and are ignorant of other core doctrines about marriage, divorce and homosexuality.

Pope Francis offered an olive branch of sorts to the doctrine-minded, conservative wing of the Catholic Church on Friday as he denounced abortions as a symptom of today’s "throw-away culture" and encouraged Catholic doctors to refuse to perform them.

Pope Francis has warned that the Catholic Church’s moral structure might "fall like a house of cards" if it doesn’t balance its divisive rules about abortion, gays and contraception with the greater need to make the church a more welcoming place for all.

A non-tenured adjunct professor was let go from his position at the University of Illinois in Champaign after teaching his students that according to the Catholic conception of "Natural Moral Law," acts of sexual intimacy between consenting adults of the same gender are wrong.

A gay altar server in Canada who was removed from his duties for being gay has appealed to a human rights tribunal; anti-gay religious pundits see the case as "intrusive" upon faith issues by the government.